the meeting place
by giratinastories
Summary: 'Do the birds still sing, do the flowers still grow, in the meadow where we used to sit together' Giratina/Dawn, oneshot.


the meeting place

* * *

Dawn was... Unremarkable. Standard. Average. She was a young girl who grew up in Twinleaf Town, in the southwest of the Sinnoh region. Of course, everybody had high hopes for the kids of the town - Lucas, Barry and Dawn - and as such the children were polite and well mannered.  
Often they'd go out in the evenings as children do - to play in the park, go to each others houses, basically enjoy their youth. However, one afternoon after a particularly stressful school day, Dawn decided to take a short stroll by herself.  
What she found there was Giratina. As she walked into the little meadow, she recognised the form, the colours of the Renegade Pokémon and ran as fast as her legs would take her.  
She didn't tell Lucas or Barry about her experience, but a few weeks later, she plucked up the courage to search for Giratina. She found it - in the same meadow, quietly observing. She slowly approached it, but her youth made her impatient and when it made no move to attack her she sped up a little, sitting down in front of it on the grass and bowing a little as her respect.  
Giratina was curious about her, and so leaned his head down to sniff her clothes, trying to recognise something. He jumped back a little when she began to talk, only nine years old;  
"You know when I found you a few weeks ago?" she asked, and he nodded, despite his surprise at her chattiness. "Well, I was sad because school didn't go very well." she bemoaned, looking up at him, not a trace of fear now visible. She paused. "You're not going to hurt me, are you?" There was no taunt in the voice, no mocking undertones. So when Giratina shook his head and lay down to listen so as not to intimidate her, he meant both gestures.  
She continues, until an hour has passed. She looks down at her watch and gives a start of surprise - "I've got to go back home! See you soon, Giratina!"  
Giratina is left wondering if she will come back. Just in case, he finds a flat edged rock from a nearby lake and heaves it into the meadow before placing it down like a seat, that Dawn can sit on if she returned.  
She did. A week later on the same day, she returned to tell him what had happened to her that week. He began to lose interest in her and instead listened to what she did. "And soon, I'll be getting my first Pokémon!" Dawn finished an hour later, beaming. "But don't you worry, I'll Fly back here every week to talk to you, there's no need to get lonely. Bye!" She waved as she returned to her town, leaving Giratina staring after her.  
The next week...  
"Me and Barry had a fight over our Pokémon..." Giratina growled, angry that somebody would hurt this charming little girl. "Don't worry, he's my friend, he wouldn't actually hurt me, silly!" Dawn said, reading the expression."So I'm starting my journey tomorrow. But I'll come back, like I said!"  
The next week...  
"F-flying makes y-you really cold..." Dawn shivered, hugging herself. Giratina quickly leaned down and curled up next to her, heating her up. She smiled and fell asleep, Giratina keeping her warm through the night.  
The next week...  
"On my journey I met this really annoying guy called Paul. He thinks I'm troublesome!" she exclaimed angrily, before suddenly pointing at Giratina. "Do you think I'm troublesome?" Giratina was thrown but quickly shook his head. "Aw, thanks, Giratina!" Dawn said, having invested in a warm coat to keep her from getting cold while flying.  
The next week, so on, so forth...  
Until one week she didn't arrive. Giratina stayed up all night, worried sick about her, watching the rock as though she was going to appear on it any second.  
The next week, she returned, to find Giratina staring at its own reflection in the tiny lake it had taken the stone from. "Giratina!" she cried, and he turned, bounding toward her and crying his joy. "I'm sorry... I just had to have a gym battle..."  
But her apologies were quickly accepted as Giratina wanted to know what her 'gym battle' was like.  
He watched her grow. "Giratina, my mum says I'm getting... older now, so I might be a bit moody sometimes..."  
"Giratina, I've got four badges, four to go!"  
"Giratina, have you ever been to Sunnyshore City? The restaurants there are great! Oh, and Volkner... Yeah, he's as hot as they say he is."  
And later on, after about fifteen years of these meetings, Dawn decided to give him something. "Hold on a sec. There we go!" Dawn had given him a little necklace, the red gem in it catching the sun as it hung in the void, suspended by the extended chain. Giratina would never take it off.  
A few years further down the line...  
"You remember when I told you about that boy who called me troublesome? Well, we met again, and he's a lot nicer now... And we've been going out for three years, so... He proposed to me!" Giratina had no idea what 'proposed' meant, but if Dawn was happy, he was happy.  
One fateful day, a few years further (she was twenty-nine now,) he was listening to her when he heard something move among the trees. At attention, he peered around for any sign of a enemy, while Dawn calmed him down, 'don't worry, there's nothing there...' As he turned away, back to Dawn, Paul burst from the green, Dawn and Giratina both turning.  
"Dawn, RUN!" Paul shouted, but Giratina mistook his shout for a angry one instead of a protective one and leapt over to him. Paul immediately reached for his Poké Ball belt, Dawn shouting for him to stop, to calm down, to let her explain.  
"STOP!" Dawn cried, at the top of her voice. Giratina and Paul had both locked hate filled eyes. "Come on, Paul... Just let me explain."  
"Explain? Can you explain why you were with that... Thing!?" Paul asked, Giratina obviously taking huge effort in not crushing him immediately.  
"Giratina, I'll see you soon. Paul, come on, and I'll explain." Dawn and Paul both left, leaving Giratina confused and hurt. Had he done something wrong?  
However, the next week...  
"Paul... Paul doesn't want me to meet you anymore. But fuck him. We had an argument. But don't think that you did anything wrong," she reassured, "because you didn't."  
Giratina closed his eyes. He was glad he hadn't done anything wrong, but why did it still feel like he had? "So I don't know where my and Paul's relationship is going." Dawn finished, before breaking down and crying. "And to top it all off... My mum just died," she sobbed, as Giratina tried to comfort her. He didn't know what 'died' meant. He nuzzled up next to her, his eyes fraught with their now shared sorrow.  
Giratina had been as solid and dependable as a rock, but listened like a best friend. Dawn put her arms around his neck, and Giratina felt her heartbeat.  
And ever further along time's winding road. Giratina could remember each 'conversation' with the utmost clarity. Dawn had never missed a week where the two would meet.  
Sometimes the two would think back, to when they had first met, when she had been a scared little girl running away, to when the rock that was now always occupied during their chats was not there. They thought back to when they knew each other not.  
Giratina has watched sixty years of this person's life, and not once has he felt anything besides caring when he is around her. She still comes to him, growing older and older, moving slower and slower, until the day where she does not want to leave his side. And he curls up once more, shares his heat with her as he did over fifty years ago now.  
When he wakes up, no amount of coaxing, crooning or nuzzling will wake her, a quiet, contented smile still visible on her lips. She is no longer warm, and Giratina understands. He still sees the vulnerable young girl, but he _understands_.  
He takes her back to her house, invisible in the dead of night. He phases through the floors, and returns her to her bed.  
When Lucas and Barry go and check on their friend, they find her like this. They find her will, on which is written only a few, scant lines, in her curved handwriting.

* * *

_'Do the flowers still grow, do the birds still sing, in the meadow where we used to sit together_?'

* * *

Barry and Lucas can't make any sense of it, and decide to have it on her grave. Her funeral is quiet, but there are three figures standing at it - Lucas, Barry and Giratina. The latter, unseen by the others, cries the hardest.  
Every day without fail, a new flower appears at the grave, brought by him, to prove that the flowers **do** still grow, the birds **do** still sing in the meadow where they used to sit together.  
And every week without fail, not caring what the laws of life and death forbid her, she visits him in that meadow, as the moon falls from grace and the Sun faces it down, at her namesake.  
She arrives at dawn.  
And the two go on as they always have for an eternity, for as long as they want, as they are the greatest of friends.

* * *

The End

I cried more than once writing this. I'm soft.  
As inspired by a quote in the art room, 'the birds still sing in the field where we used to sit together.' Review or PM me to tell me what you thought.


End file.
